Indian Community to benefit from key medicine advice

Members of the Indian community can benefit from key advice on how to manage their medicine at a special Health and Well Being Day being held on 7 October from 12 Noon – 3pm at the Indian Community Centre Association, Rawdon Street, Derby DE23 6QR. The event is being run by Indian Day Care Support Services (IDCCS SEWA).

Pharmacists and technicians from NHS Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning’s Medicine’s Management Team will be offering patients a medicines review to ensure that they have a good understanding of the medicine they are taking and how this can improve their health. If patients are having difficulties taking their medicines, then the team will contact their GP Practice to let them know.

Patients with respiratory problems will also be offered an ‘inhaler technique’ check to help them manage their condition and maximise their quality of life. An ‘incheck’ device measures how effectively the patients are able to use their inhalers correctly ensuring they receive the optimum medication to treat their symptoms.

National evidence suggests that up to 90% of patients show incorrect inhaler technique. When used effectively, 20% of the medication in a metered dose inhaler (MDI) reaches the lungs (the other 80% being swallowed), whereas with a poor technique the percentage drops to between 0 and 10%. Thus a patient can be constantly using their inhaler but get no benefit from it.

“This event is an ideal opportunity for patients from the Indian community to ensure that they are making the most of their medicine to stay healthy. Our staff are multilingual so they will be able to communicate with patients in the language they are most comfortable using.

“It’s important that patients are only ordering the medicines that they need. In the East Midlands alone, around £30m worth of medicines are wasted every year. That money could pay for approximately 900 community nurses, 6,000 hip replacements, 42,000 cataract operations or 5,400 knee replacements. Around 50% of medicine waste is preventable so the good news is that patients, GPs and pharmacists can make a huge difference by working together to manage medicines more effectively.”